Chusetts



(No Model.)

w. T; MIILLIGAN & J. Y. MAINLAND.

Self Leveling Berth.

No. 239,109; Paftnted' March 22,1881.

M l MWIHE W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILL AM T. MILLIGAN AND JOHN- Y. MAINLAND, or BOSTON, MAss OHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO THE BRUNSWICK BERTH coMPANY, or

SAME PLACE.

SELF-LEVELING BERTH.

SPECIFICATIONformingpart of Letters Patent No. 239,109, dated March 22, 1881.

Application filed December 20,1880. (No model.)

- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM T. MILLI- GAN and J OHN Y. MAINLAND, both of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Ships Berths, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, of which I Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section,of a ships berth embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is a section on line 00 .r, Fig. 1.

()ur invention relates to that class of berths commonly called self.- leveling berths, in which the berth is supported at each end on a trunn1on,'each trunnion being suspended to prevent the berth from being raised at the head or foot by the pitching of the vessel; and our invention consists in a novel arrangement of the ways which prevent the endwise motion of the berth. These ways have heretofore been fast to the walls of the state-room; but in our berth each way A or A is journaled at its upper end, as shown, and its lower end is controlled by a wire rope, B or B, which isfast to it and extends below the berth under a pulley, 1), fast to the opposite wall of the state-room, and thence upward, whenit is fast to the suspendingrope O, by which the berth is hung. The ways A guide the wheels a 12 both of which are journaled in an arm fast to the trunnion D in a well-known manner, which need not be here described. These trunnions prevent any motion of the berth frointhe rolling of the vessel, as will also be understood without description, the berth being lengthwise and not athwartship.

When the vessel pitches-that is, when the bow or the stern rises-the head or foot of the berth also tends to rise. Suppose that the foot of the berth is toward the how, the berth being lengthwise of the vessel, as is usual, and that the bow rises, then the head of the berth would be lower than the foot if the trunnions are fast to the walls of the stateroom; but as the trunnions are hung by the rope O neither will rise or fall if the ropeO renders I freely over its pulleys F, and this it will do to some extent, but not sufficiently for the best results, when the ways A are fast to the walls of the stateroom; but when these. ways are journaled at their upper ends and connected,

as shown, by the ropes B B to the suspending rope C, any tendency of the berth to incline lengthwise for example, for the head to be u lower than the foot-is at once counteracted, for the berth will tend to move endwise toward one of the ways (A in this case, that being at the head) as soon as it begins to incline, and this will tend to swing the lower end of that way, A, toward the wall; but this motion of the way A is impossible without raising the depressed end and lowering the elevated end of the berth, for the motion of way A toward the wall causes rope B to render over its pulley b and thereby to pull. down the left-hand end of rope C, while the motion of way A away from the wall slacks rope B and leaves the right-hand end of rope C more free to move up as the left-hand end of rope O is pulled down. Another advantage of this arrangement of the ways A A and the ropes B B is that the berth is made steadier under the weight of the occupant when the weight is near one end of the berth. Suppose the weight is thrown near the foot or left-hand end of the berth, or so as to tend to depress the lefthand end, this end cannot be depressed except by pulling down the left-hand end of rope (1; but this will cause the lower end of way A to swing out from the wall and the lower end of way Ato swing in toward the wall, thereby making the berth very much less sensitive to any motion of the occupant such as sitting up in it or getting in or out of it-than are berths of this kind, but without our swinging ways. The ways A A are kept from sidewise motion by the brackets h h, as will be clear from the drawings.

What we claim as our invention is- In a suspended berth, the swinging ways A A, pivoted at their upper ends to the bulk head and fast at their lower ends to ropes B I B, which serve to keep the ways always hearing on the rollers in the trunnion-bases, in combination with said ropes BB,thesuspending-rope G, which passes over the upper,

sheaves, and the trunnions D, all substantially as described.

WM. T. MILLIGAN.

JOHN Y. MAINLAND. Witnesses:

WM. A. MAcL on, J. R. SNow. 

